Former US President Donald Trump testified briefly on Thursday to defend himself in the New York libel trial of author E. Jean Carroll, who had already convicted him in 2023 of sexual assault in the 1990s and libel.
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His victories in the Republican primaries in Iowa and New Hampshire have brought the businessman ever closer to a rematch in November's presidential election against Joe Biden, but his testimony in court is strictly limited.
He wore a blue suit, remained silent or mumbled in the morning and testified for only a few minutes in the afternoon because Judge Lewis Kaplan restricted his freedom of speech and limited his lawyers' questions to three, according to an AFP journalist.
Donald Trump could only answer “yes” or “no” to avoid slip-ups, only confirming his statement during the trial and that he wanted to defend himself against E.'s rape allegations. John Carroll.
“She said something that I thought was wrong,” he said before the judge cut him off.
“This is not America”
As Donald Trump left the courtroom, he shook his head, visibly angry, and said, “This is not America.”
Since January 16th, E. Jean Carroll, 80 years old and former columnist for the American edition of Elle magazine, has been standing in this civil case against Donald Trump, 77 years old. She had him sentenced in civil court in May 2023 to pay five million dollars in compensation for sexual assault in a New York department store changing room in 1996 and for the first time for defamation for statements made in 2022.
The former White House tenant, who dreams of returning there, spent eight days shuttling between his campaign rallies in New Hampshire and the courthouse in Manhattan and was scheduled to testify this week.
But his confrontation with E. Jean Carroll was postponed several times until this Thursday due to Covid among a jury on Monday and the New Hampshire Republican primary on Tuesday.
In the morning, the court viewed excerpts from Donald Trump's first video-linked statement to the New York courts in October 2022, in which he claimed not to know E. Jean Carroll while repeating that she “did not ( you).” “Type” of a woman.
When presented with an old photo of himself with the complainant in that deposition, the septuagenarian mistook her for his former wife, Marla Maples, before his lawyer corrected his mistake.
He also called E. Jean Carroll “a liar and a completely crazy person.”
Responsible
On Wednesday evening, on his Truth Social platform, he launched no fewer than 37 written attacks against E. Jean Carroll, whom he has continued to denigrate and insult for months, calling her “crazy” with “fake history” that he “fake ” have. never seen in (his) life”.
This was despite an initial resounding verdict in May, handed down unanimously by a popular jury at the same New York federal court, finding him guilty of sexual assault and defamation.
Both sides called initial witnesses to the stand, including a retired television journalist and friend of E. Jean Carroll, Frances Carol Martin.
After this statement, Donald Trump's lawyer Alina Habba estimated that “Ms. Carroll had not presented any evidence in her case. Last point”.
This second trial, which is not an appeal hearing, stems from a libel lawsuit brought by the author over comments made by Donald Trump in June 2019, when she first accused him of rape in a book. The then President of the United States (2017-2021) claimed that she invented everything to “sell a new book.”
The trial was delayed, but this second trial was sustained and the plaintiff is seeking more than ten million dollars for moral and professional damages.
Donald Trump is also the subject of four criminal cases this election year.